One of Those Things
by LongLiveJLPotter
Summary: Lily and James knew each other for six years, but they are about to find out they didn't know each other at all.
1. Night Meetings

Lily Evans and James Potter were two Hogwarts students that did not share the same feelings for each other. On one side we have Lily, a girl that hates James deeply for his thinking that he's better than everyone else on Earth, although, as we will find out soon, this isn't completely true. On the other side we have James, who likes Lily unconditionally for no reason at all. They knew each other for six years now, as they were on the second term of their sixth year, but despite the years and years they had been living together, they didn't know each other at all.

James had the terrible habit of asking Lily to go on dates with him whenever he had a chance. I say terrible because Lily never said yes, as she thought that it was unacceptable to be treated like one of those stupid girls that followed James around the school. And I also say terrible because James did this for the exact opposite reason, he through that if he asked her out long enough, she would realise he cared about her enough to be rejected ten times a day and keep asking. Fortunately, he figured his attempts to show his feeling weren't working and decided to stop asking her out all the time. In fact, James was starting to realise many things this year. As well as Lily.

We begin our story in the Hogwarts Express, when Lily and James are coming back to school after Christmas.

'Hey, Padfoot! Let´s go! We won't get a compartment if you take so long!'

'Relax, man, I'm coming. Aren't Moony and Wormtail here yet?'

Sirius and James were best friends since their first year. It's one of those things that doesn't have an explanation; they just saw each other and became best friends. Easy like that. Soon Remus Lupin was seen and the same thing happened. Peter Pettigrew wasn't so much that way, but they became friends anyway. Funny how sometimes these things happen. They called themselves The Marauders and had nicknames for each other: James was Prongs, Sirius was Padfoot, Remus was Moony and Peter was Wormtail.

'I think they're on that compartment.' James said as they approached a compartment full of little fairies flying around. They opened the compartment door and saw their two friends.

'Cool, uh? Got them for Christmas.' Remus said, and they spent the rest of the trip trying to catch them. They didn't succeed by the way.

The Hogwarts Express had stopped and they had already left it to get a carriage, with the fairies safely locked inside a jar. Lily was waiting for an empty carriage with her friend Alice.

'Was Vernon there again?' Alice asked

'Unfortunately, yes. I wish I had spent Christmas here, it would've been way better. 'Lily said miserably.

'Oh, Lily, cheer up! You won't have to see him and your sister for a long time now.'

It might have sound weird for anyone who was passing by, but this was true. Petunia, Lily's sister, treated her as if she was nothing but a mistake in the world's history. And her boyfriend, Vernon, wasn't any better. They both hated everything that belonged to the wizarding world, Lily included. Although, there is no way to know if Petunia really hated her sister, or if she was just jealous for the fact that Lily had powers she could never have.

James Potter didn't know any of this. He didn't know anything, he only thought he did. This is why he was so surprised to hear this. Lily for him was a perfect girl with a perfect life, whose biggest problem was the next exam. He had no idea, or at least hadn't given any through to, that Lily had a life outside Hogwarts and that it might not be that good.

'Hi, Lily! So you didn't have such a nice Christmas?' James asked.

'Potter were you eavesdropping on our conversation?' she said angrily.

'No, of course, not. I was passing by and I heard you saying, that's all!'

'Well… okay, then. I'll tell you.' Lily said. 'My sister and her boyfriend spent Christmas on our house, and they weren't very nice. Especially with me, to be honest.'

'But what did they do?'

'They insulted me a lot. And also, Petunia tried to hide my clothes so I wouldn't get on Hogwarts Express on time. She's crazy. She says I'm crazy, but she's the one who is.'

'I… err…I'm sorry.'

Lily giggled at James's apparent lack of sentimentalism. 'That's fine. Why do you wanna know about my holidays anyway, Potter?'

'I don't know. I heard you telling Longbottom about it and I just wanted to hear too.'

'Are you jealous of Alice, Potter?' she said teasing him.

'No! Well…maybe.' He said, and Lily immediately burst out laughing.

'I was joking, Potter, for Heaven's sake! What is wrong with you?' she said still laughing. 'Where's Alice? Where's everybody?'

'That's what you get when you laugh at me. The carriages just left.'

'Good. Now I'll have to walk all the way up there. This is all your fault, Potter! Why haven't you told me the carriages were leaving?'

He did not answer Lily's question, but we all know very well why James didn't tell her that everyone was leaving, and that if she didn't stop talking to him, they would be left alone.

They started walking towards the castle and telling each other tales about their Christmas holidays. After fifteen minutes they were in front of the Great Hall doors. They didn't seat together obviously, but for James those fifteen minutes of conversation were good enough for the first day of term. It was good for Lily too. Everyone thought she hated James Potter but she didn't. She may try and hide this from herself for ages but she knows that what she feels for Potter isn't hate, neither love if you ask me but there is some sort of liking. If there wasn't she wouldn't be having a conversation about something so stupid for fifteen minutes with him. But they didn't talk to each other much, most of the times they did, it was about schoolwork or going out (this one was more of a yelling kind of conversation, if you know what I mean) for James's unhappiness.

It had been a week or so since the start of term and James and Lily hadn't talked to each other at all. It was odd, Lily thought, because James never lost an opportunity to ask her out and still he hasn't said anything, but maybe he just hadn't found an opportunity. Maybe that was it, Lily thought. But that wasn't it. James was controlling himself the best he could to not ask her out every five minutes, even though Lily was looking so good this last couple of days in James's eyes. Thing were getting complicated and he knew that the time was coming when he would have to talk to her, he only hoped he wouldn't say something completely stupid and mess up things. Lucky was on his side as two weeks after their Christmas conversation James found Lily sitting under a tree alone, looking at the Black Lake, after his last class of the day, which Lily hadn't attended.

'Lily? Why are you here?'

'It's none of your business, Potter!'

'Lily… are you crying?'

'Go away, Potter!'

'What happened?'

She didn't answer. James didn't know what to do, but he knew he had to stay there doesn't matter what she said. So he sat beside her and stood there. Lily didn't want him there, she wanted to be alone. But did she? Not even she knew this. Potter wasn't her favourite person on Earth, but who cares anyway? She knew very well she was one his favourite people and that's all you need to know to let somebody stay.

'My sister is getting married.' Lily said after a while.

'That's good, isn't it?'

'She didn't invite me to her wedding.'

'Ohhh… I'm sorry, Lily.'

'My mom tried to convince her to let me go, but she said I'd just ruin it. Ruin it! How could I ever ruin my sister's wedding?!'

'Well, I don't know. But only for what you told me about her, she seems very jealous of you. Maybe she thinks everyone will only look at you when she walks down the aisle.'

'That's stupid.'

'Not really. I would look only at you.'

Lily smiled because she knew he wasn't trying to sound cute or anything, he was being honest, he was saying the truth, how he really felt. That was a side of him Lily had never seen, as cheesy as it may sound. He came closer and hugged Lily. She burst into tears. They stood there for a while, but Lily finally stopped crying and realised what she was doing. She let go of James and wiped off her tears.

'What were you doing here anyway?' she asked.

'Quidditch practise.'

'What? Did you miss the quidditch practise to stay here? But you're a captain, you can't do this.'

'Nah, Sirius's there. He must be having fun playing captain anyway.'

'Look, Potter, thank you for helping me tonight but nothing's changed, okay? I still don't like you and I still won't go out with you.'

'I knew you'd say that. If you wanna cry on my shoulder every day and say that hate me afterwards, I don't care. As long as you let me stay there.'

That's when it all started. Every night after that day, Lily sat under the same tree waiting for James. At first she used excuses as 'I have to study Astronomy' or 'The common room is too crowded' to explain why she was there, but after a while she stopped lying and Potter stopped asking. He, by the way, fixed all the dates for the Quidditch practises for the weekend so he would be free at night. They only talked during those meetings, which were fairly secret because none of them told anyone about it and whenever someone asked where they were going, they lied. Obviously, their friends started to notice that Lily and James disappeared every day at the same time, but we'll continue with this story later…


	2. The Discovery

As I was saying, James's and Lily's friends started to realise that they were disappearing every day at the same time. And if the Marauders or Alice asked where they were going, they'd only received terrible excuses as answers. Alice noticed this firstly and decided to ask the Marauders if they knew what was happening.

'What!? Do you think Evans and Prongs are going out?' Peter asked.

'No, not going out. But I think these nights strolls that they both have been taking at the same time every day are quite suspicious.' Alice answered.

'Yeah…that'd make sense. Prongs even moved all the Quidditch practises to the weekends or the afternoons.' Sirius said.

'But they hate each other. How could they be going out?' Peter said.

'I don't think Prongs hates Lily, Wormtail.' said Remus.

'And, honestly I don't think Lily hates Potter either.' Alice said.

'But even if they are going out, what should we do?' Sirius asked.

'I don't know. But, firstly we need to find out if there's actually something going on.' Alice answered.

So the next day, Sirius, Peter, Remus and Alice waited for James to leave and followed him. They tried to make less sound as possible, but having Peter with them made this a hard task, for he kept tripping and walking as hard as an elephant. Goodness knows how James didn't hear them.

They soon realised where James was going, and five minutes after that they saw Lily sitting under a tree. Potter came closer and said something, then he sat by her side and they started chatting. For you and I, who followed this story since the beginning, that wasn't weird at all. But for these people, who knew only that James had been trying unsuccessfully for two whole years to caught Lily's attention, this was very odd indeed.

'Merlin's beard! I can't believe Prongs is dating Evans!' said Peter.

'Shut your mouth, Pettigrew! They'll hear us!' Alice whispered.

They came back to the common room and sat near a window in the very end of the room.

'So…that's cleared up now.' Alice said as they sat.

'And what are we supposed to do?' Sirius asked.

'Nothing, obviously. We can't let them know we've been following them around the school.' Peter answered.

'Yeah, we should let them tell us.' Alice said.

'But… what if they never do?' Sirius asked.

'They will. I'm sure they will. Maybe they just need a little help.' Alice replied.

'You mean we should persuade them into telling us?' Sirius asked.

'Yes. But let's call it a little help, it'll sound less creepy.' Alice answered.

'I don't know… Moony, what do you think?' Sirius asked Remus, who hadn't said a word since they came back.

'What? Sorry, I wasn't listening.' he said.

'Why are you so quiet?' Peter asked.

'I think we shouldn't have spied on them. If they wanted to tell us they would have already said something.' Remus said.

'Oh, please don't tell me you're feeling guilty now!' Alice said.

'I'm not feeling guilty. I just don't think we did the right thing.' he replied.

'Well, while you were thinking rubbish we decided that we're going to persuade Lily and James into telling us about their secret meetings.' Alice told Remus.

'You can't do that! It's enough following Prongs, you still want to lie about it!' he said.

'You weren't expecting us to tell him, were you? Because that would be a stupid thing to do, and even I know it.' Sirius said.

'So you will try to get him to tell you?' Alice asked.

'Yes.' Peter and Sirius answered.

'Speak for yourselves. I'm not doing this.' Remus said.

'As long as you don't tell him anything…' Alice said.

Remus only frowned, but they all understood this as a sign that he wouldn't tell James anything.

Lily went up to the castle about an hour after that and was closely followed by James. She went to her dormitory to find Alice studying in her bed, which wasn't weird at all considering they had so much homework. The other two girls who shared the dormitory with them, Melissa and Kate, were reading a magazine called Witch Weekly,

'Hi, girls.' she said awkwardly.

She has always felt very guilty for not telling Alice about Potter. Not that she had something with James– she wasn't dating him or anything -they were just friends now. Not even she knew why they were hiding this from anyone. It was just better that way, so if they started to hate each other again, no one would be on their way.

'HI, Lily.' Alice said. 'Where were you?'

'In the Library.' she answered.

'But I was there just now and I didn't see you.' Alice said. I think you must have already understood that she was lying.

'That's because I was in the Restricted Section.' Lily said.

'Me too. That's weird.' Alice said.

'It doesn't matter… Do you know when the next Hogsmeade trip will be?' Lily said.

'No. Lily, where you really in the Library?' Alice asked.

'Yes, I told you already! Do you think I'm lying?' Lily asked. At this point, she was getting really nervous and was pretty sure Alice knew about the meetings at night with Potter.

'I don't know if you're lying, but I know you're not telling me the truth. At least you're not telling me the whole truth.' Alice replied.

'Alice, do you want to ask me something?' Lily said.

'No. Do you want to tell me something?' Alice asked.

'I don't have anything to tell.' Lily said.

'Then good night.' Alice said. She put her books under her bed and turned off her bed light.

'Okay… good night.' Lily said and she went to bed preoccupied that Alice might have found out and now was mad because Lily hadn't told her anything.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the Gryffindor Tower, James entered his dormitory to find Remus reading near the window and Sirius and Peter deep in conversation, sitting in Peter's bed.

'Hi.' he said.

'Hi, Prongs.' Peter said awkwardly and nervously. Sirius hit him with a pillow and muttered something James could not understand.

'What have you guys been up to?' James said.

'Not much. And you?' Sirius said.

'I was practising…for Quidditch.' he answered.

'But your broom is here.' Peter said.

'I…used another broom.' he said.

'What broom?' Sirius said and he received a very disapproving look from Remus, who remained in silence.

'One from a second-year.' he said.

'A second-year?' Sirius said.

'Yeah. He said it was an honour to lend his broom to the best Quidditch player ever.' He replied.

'Sure he did.' Sirius said and he went sit on his bed.

'Well, you are good at Quidditch, Padfoot, but I'm still the best!' he said laughing.

Sirius didn't answer, instead he took a quill out of his bag and a little piece of paper and started writing something. He gave it to Peter, who nodded and wrote something as well. James stared at them waiting for his chance to see the paper, but Peter gave it back to Sirius.

'What are you doing?' James said.

'We're writing.' Peter answered.

'I can see that. What are you writing?' he asked.

'Nothing of your business.' Sirius said.

'Okay, if you don't want to tell me then don't. I don't care. You'll end up saying it anyway.' James said.

'Say whatever you want, Prongs. I'm going to bed. See you guys tomorrow.' Sirius said.

Peter said: '_Incendio_!' and the paper caught fire immediately leaving nothing but ashes behind. James was disappointed because he was hoping to get the little paper once they were all asleep. Peter was quite a smart boy, even though it didn't show most of the time.

The next day, Lily waited until Transfiguration was over to talk to Potter.

'Do not forget your essay on Multicorfors is to be handed on the next class. Also, those who failed today at the Bird-Conjuring Charm must practise.' McGonagall said.

Alice put her books inside her bag and was already leaving the classroom when she realised that Lily hadn't moved:

'Aren't you coming?' Alice asked.

'No, I need to talk to McGonagall about this Bird-Charm thing. I'll meet you at the dungeons.' Lily said.

Lily really didn't succeed at conjuring the birds, so Alice didn't suspect. As soon as she left, Lily ran to the door.

'Potter! I need to talk to you!' Lily said as she saw James and his friends near the staircase.

'Lily Evans needs to talk to Prongsie. Times really do change, don't they, Wormtail?' Sirius said.

James grinned but followed Lily. She stopped in front of an empty classroom and said: 'She knows, Potter. Have you told her? Have you told your friends?'

'Told what?' James said confusedly.

'You know bloody well what! That we've been…talking.' Lily said.

'And what's the problem with that? Who cares if they know you don't hate me anymore?'

'I care! And who said I don't hate you anymore?'

'Well, do you?'

'No, but this isn't the point here.' Lily said.

James obviously smiled, looking rather pleased with himself. 'Look, Lily, I haven't told them anything. But, honestly, I don't see why I haven't. And did you really think they'd believe in those horrible excuses?'

'My excuses aren't terrible!' she said defensively 'And I only said it would be better if only we knew because… well… what if we start hating each other again. Then, they'd be disappointed and sad, so it's better like this.'

'Lily Evans, do you really think I might one day be able to hate you? That's never going to happen. Ever. Well, maybe if you kill my owl I might not like you as much as I do now, but still, I won't hate you.'

James saw she was smirking, but once she realised he was seeing that, she looked away blushing and said: 'If you haven't told them and I haven't either, the how they know?'

'Perhaps they saw us.' James said. Now, he that he thought about it, he really seemed to have heard something at the night before while he was going to meet Lily.

'I don't know, but it doesn't matter. I've got to go or Alice will suspect that I wasn't really talking to McGonagall.' she said.

'Wait. Can I tell'em then? Can I tell them that you don't hate me anymore?' James asked.

Lily considered this for a moment and said: 'Yes, you can.' After all, she was going to tell Alice too, so why did he have to lie? She left him and went to the dungeons.

Potter was really happy, as you would expect. Not only because now he would be able to tell his best friends about the girl he liked so much, but because she said she didn't hate him. He already knew this, but still, it was different, and somehow better, to hear it from her mouth. And he left to tell his friends the good news.


End file.
